Just then, the front door opened and the Commander and Jetstream walked in, interrupting any response that may have been made.
"Will!" the Commander boomed. "Why didn't you tell us you were getting the gang back together? We could have put in a movie and ordered chinese."
Warren chuckled. "We were reflecting. We have a power reassessment test tomorrow."
Everyone groaned at the good, but true excuse.
Steve chucked, "And does that have anything to do with why Chandra is in your arms holding onto you like you're her only rock?"
Chandra's cheeks turned bright red, mirrored by Warren's as Steve chuckled and winked, leaving the room with his wife as she smiled warmly.
"So," Magenta spoke up, "Anyone have plans for homecoming?"
"Homecoming's stupid," Zach tried. Chandra giggled at his attempt to be cool.
"So? I think I'll go," the purple girl responded.
"Yeah, me too." Zach quickly agreed.
"Will?" Jetstream called. "We have a call in Europe to defeat some giant lizard. Will you be okay until we get back?"
"Of course," Everyone agreed.
They resumed their study session. A few minutes in, the doorbell rang. Chandra groaned. More interruptions. Will sighed, stood, and went to answer the door.
"Gwen! What are you doing here," Will said tiredly.
"I'm here to see your parents? I need to speak to them about something."
"Well, they're not here. So you can go now…"
"And preferably not come back later." Chandra added with a smirk.
Gwen's eyes narrowed in rage and her teeth clenched.
"You think your 'mean girl' act scares me? You may be a manipulative drama queen, but all you really are is a hurt little girl who would prefer to hide her pain behind a mask of sweetness and anger."
The lights flickered as Gwen's energy arched from her hands, connecting to the technology in the house.
"Try it." Chandra dared, her eyes glowing a faint silver. Gwen couldn't be sure if she was imagining it or not, but she suddenly started to feel faint. The tendrils of electricity faded as Gwen dropped to her knees.
"Wh-What's happening?" the girl panted, her head hanging.
"Gwen!" Layla called, getting up.
Chandra's eyes faded back to normal as she rolled them at Layla's soft heart. Yes, she was happy that Layla was such a good person, but Gwen deserved way more than she was getting. And Chandra didn't mean a puppy.
Gwen felt a little strength return to her and pushed herself from her knees, reluctantly accepting Layla's hand to help her get up.
"Who hurt you?" Chandra continued softly, both curious about the answer and lacking almost any sympathy.
Gwen gasped lightly, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, and she turned before heading out the door. Will shut the door gently behind her.
What they didn't see was Gwen's triumphant smirk as she walked away, or the faint glow from where the Secret Sanctum's walls were being put back together.
Out of sight, Speed met up with Gwen, a weird machine resembling a gun with a large lightbulb instead of a barrel in his hands. "They deserve everything that is coming to them."
The next day, every person they met in the halls of Sky High whispered and pointed at Chandra. Chandra wanted nothing more but to wilt into the lockers, but she squared her shoulders and ignored the speculative whispers and staring eyes as she marched ahead of her gang, Warren one step behind her.
"Sidekicks!" Lash called. "We have a proposition." Speed added, clasping his hands together.
"You made us look bad." Lash continued.
Chandra scoffed, "You made yourselves look bad. I mean, losing to a freshman in Save the Citizen? Wow. You must not be that," she paused and smirked, "strong."
"Yeah?! Well, you weren't in the fight. How about you join the next one? This afternoon, the gym."
Chandra's eyes widened, but not for fear of what Lash and Speed could do. No, she was afraid of how much of her power she'd have to reveal in order to get her and whoever they stuck with her out in one piece. Speed smirked and Lash lunged at her. She punched his face as it approached, a crunch audible throughout the hallway, drowned out as he screamed. Chandra had, unthinkingly, put her power of inflicting pain into the punch, rearranging Lash's nose in a very painful way and probably slightly cracking the skull behind it. Speed looked at her in surprise and anger, a little bit of fear flashing before his eyes before he started forward, readying to sprint into action. Suddenly, his ankle gave out on that step and he sprawled to the ground, any support from that leg vanishing.
"What the heck is it with you?" he screamed. "Whenever you're around it's like our bodies decide to give up. You punch way harder than a girl should be able to and I always get injured right before attacking you or your friends!" His eyes lit up in realization as he lifted his head. "But you know why. Don't you?" He grinned as Chandra kept her face blank. "Because you're the cause! You can heal, but there's a flip side, isn't there?" Chandra gritted her teeth, dreading where this was going and knowing she had to do something. Before he could give any more details away, his tongue went limp, as if he was unable to control it and it was just lagging out of his mouth. He tried grunting, but soon, his voice went ragged and he was unable to make a sound.
Speed clutched at his throat, realizing that no sound was escaping him. Lash, still holding his hand to his nose, screamed. "Stop for f'ing heck's sake!" The commotion had already drawn a crowd, and a few teachers showed up a few moments earlier. Chandra stepped forward, ready to end this before it became even more of a spectacle before Warren lay a hand on her shoulder, hissing as she accidentally caused pain before sighing as she started healing it.
"Chandra," he said softly. "You've made your point. You best stop before you can't turn back. Besides," he gestured over her shoulder towards where Coach Boomer had entered the room, "you're about to get caught." Releasing her shoulder, he stepped back as she took a deep breath, the boy fully relaxing as she smiled at him.
"What. Is it going on here?" Boomer asked, his voice angry.
"We were walking to class when Lash and Speed came up to us and started harassing Chandra, threatening her. When Lash lunged at Chandra, she punched him in the nose. When speed went to attack, he stepped on his ankle wrong and it collapsed. Speed also appears to have screamed himself hoarse and his voice might take a bit to recover." Layla stepped in. It was true, Chandra had to admit that Layla was surprisingly good at framing the situation. Speed, being unable to talk, could not argue and Lash hadn't made the same connection as his friend, too busy trying to stop the blood that was spurting out of his nose to be listening or thinking of anything else.
"Okay everyone. Please grab your things and walk orderly to your classrooms."